Power developing and distributing means



2 July 2, 1935.

Rf A. COFFMAN 2,006,671 POWER DEVELOPING AND DISTRIBUTING MEANS Original Filed Feb. 29, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [III I I July 2, 1935. CQFFMAN 2,006,671

POWER DEVELOPING AND DISTRIBUTING MEANS Original Filed Feb. 29, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (4% 5 44 v KOSCOLACOF'FMAN,

Patented July 2, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Roscoe A. Goflman, Pittsburgh. Pa.

Application February 29,

Renewed 6 Claims.

invention relates to power developing and distributing means, and it has for its object to generate power through the medium of a semiexplosive or rapidly burning unit charge, and to store the considerable power developed by the burning of such charge and distribute the same over a longer period of time for the performance of useful work. 4

The particular embodiment of the invention which I have chosen for purpose of explanation and illustration embodies a gate valve, and means for operating the same by the power developed by the igniting of the contents of a shell containing a charge of rapidly burning or semi-explosive fuel.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a gate valve and an operating mechanism therefor,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the operating mechanism of the gate valve, upon line 3-3 of Figure 4.

Fig. 4 is a face view of one of the halves of the spring housing, hereinafter described, looking from the outside thereof, i

Fig. 5 is a plan view of said spring housing, illustrating the two halves thereof,

Fig. 6 is a face view of one of the halves of the spring housing, and

Fig. '7 is a sectional view hereinafter described.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, 5 designates the casing of a gate valve, which is of conventional form, except that its stem 6 is provided with the racks I and 8. Large gear. wheels 9 and III, that are mounted upon shafts II and I2, mesh with the racks l and 8. The shafts II and I2 carry pinions I3 and I4 which mesh with racks l5 and I6 formed upon a yoke II. This yoke I1 is suitably guided in bearing extensions I8 of the hearing standards I9. An elongated slot 20, in the lower portion of the yoke, receives a sliding cross head 2I, and this cross head is in turn engaged by a wrist pin 22 which projects from the driven half 23 of a spring housing. This spring housing also comprises a driving half 24; the latter carrying aguide sleeve 25 which receives a guide through a dashpot "stud 26 of the driven half of the housing. '.'A' powerful spring 21 is disposed within the housing constituted by the halves 23 and 24; the innerend of. said spring being secured to the sleeve-25 of the housing half 24, and the outer 1932, Serial No. 595,924

May 9, 1935 end of the spring being secured, at 28, to the half 23 of the spring housing.

The housing half 23 is carried bya shaft 29 that is mounted in a bearing 30, and carries a gear wheel 3| which meshes with a pinion 32. This 5 pinion is mounted upon a shaft 33 that is supported in bearings 34 and carries a clutch member 35. This clutch member is adapted to be engaged by a corresponding clutch member 36 of a starting motor 31. This starting motor may correspond to the starting motor shown in my U. S. Patent No. 1,776,228, dated September 16, 1930. The motor disclosed in said patent, while primarily intended for starting internal combustion engines, is of general application, and is so constructed that when a cartridge or shell, very similar in size and form to an ordinary shotgun shell,.

is placed in a breech block and fired, the gases released act upon a piston, and the longitudinal movement of. said piston is translated by screw threads or splines into rotative movement of a clutch element corresponding to the clutch element 36 in Fig. 3.

In the present case, 38 designates a breech block adapted to receive an electrically fired cartridge. When such a shell is fired in breech block 33, the released gases are transmitted through conduit 39 to the combustion chamber 40 of motor 31, and the initial effect is to project the clutch element 36 into engagement with the 0 clutch element 35 and thereafter to impart a rotation to 36 and'consequently to the clutch element 35. This rotation is relatively short but at the same time exceedingly powerful and this short powerful stroke is translated, as hereinafter set forth, into a much longer and correspondingly more gentle movement of the part to be moved (in this case valve stem 8) through the medium of the pinions l3 and I4 and the relatively large gear wheels l0 and 9. 4

However, it is to be understood that the particular construction of the motor 31 is not of the essence-of the invention in this case except that it should be a motor which, like the motor of my patent aforesaid is adapted to be actuated by the propulsive effect of gases derived from the igni- 'tion and burning of fuel in a self-contained car- 'tridge. Cartridges of this sort provide easily portable, easily handled power delivery units adapted to be set off from a distance, if desired, by means of an electric circuit, such as that indicated at 3 I, and which corresponds to the cartridge igniting circuit illustrated in my patent aforesaid. The

ignition and burning of the fuel in a semi-exburning cartridge delivers a 5 plosive or rapidly large volume of power relatively quickly, and yet there are many types of apparatus which should not be operated too quickly.

It is well recognized that gate valves, which are usually used upon mains of considerable size, should not be opened or closed too quickly because of the destructive result of either initiating or checking of the flow of large bodies of liquid too suddenly. Therefore, the spring 21 is intended to store up the considerable volume of power delivered relatively quickly, by the motor 31, from the burned cartridge, and. to thereafter distribute said power in such manner as to not only open the gate valve more slowly than would be the case if the motor 31 were directly connected to said valve, but to so distribute said power that the initial opening movement of the valve and the final closing movement of the same are much more gradual than the movements of the valve when the latter is, say half open or half closed. The rate of opening or closing of the gate valve may be controlled by a conventional type of dashpot, indicated at Go, the plunger 6b of which is connected to the upper portion of the stem of the gate valve. See Figs. 1 and 2. The rate of movement of the valve may be determined by the setting of the adjustment screw of the dashpot in a well known way. This adjusting screw is shown at 60 in Fig. 7 and chokes the flowof oil or other liquid in cylinder 6a through by-pass 6e, thus retarding the movement of the piston on stem 6b.

A motor of the character of that shown in my patent aforesaid, and corresponding to the motor 31, will make nearly a complete revolution each time it is operated. Since I require only about a half turn of the spring housing half 24, I employ the pinion 32 and gear 3| to bring about a reduction of the degree of rotation of the shaft 29 with respect to the rotation 01' shaft 33. When the half 24 is given a half turn in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4, one of its lugs 42, 42a passes and is engaged by latch 43 to prevent reverse movement of said half. This turning movement of the half 24 turns the sleeve 25 to partially wind up the spring 21.

Throughout the initial portion of the winding up of the spring, the housing half 23 is held from following the hali. 24,'because one of its lugs 44 is engaged and held by a latch 45. However, when lug 42 reaches latch 45, it engages a lateral extension 45a of said latch and kicks it out of engagement with the lug 44, thus permitting the spring 21 to cause the housing 23 to follow the rotation of the housing half 24 until the other lug 44 of the housing half 23 again engages the latch 45. By this is held against retrograde movement by the latch 43. Springs 43x and 45a: tend to move latches 43 and 45 to engaging position. During this half revolution, the wristpin 22 and cross head 2| act to move the yoke I 1 one full stroke either up or down as the case may be to thereby either open or close the valve. The spring 21 is always partially wound, the additional winding at each operation being enough to keep it wound to a desired degree.

If the valve is closed atthe time that the car tridge is fired, the firing of the cartridge opens it, while if it is open at the time of the firing of the cartridge, such firing of the cartridge closes it. In my application aforesaid, I have disclosed a magazine of cartridges for bringing about successive operations of a motor of this sort, and it is to be understood that the showing of the breech block 38 in this application is merely diagramtime lug 42a has passed and matic and is intended to indicate any suitable cartridge holding device, magazine, or otherwise.

It is to be observed that in the initial movement of. the cross head block 2| a very considerable movement of the block will bring about only a very slight vertical movement of the yoke, but that as the wrist pin travels from horizontal to vertical, the movement of the yoke will be accelerated. This,- of course, will result in slowly seating and slowly unseating the gate valve While permitting relatively fast operation of the same, after the valve has been partially opened or closed, as the case may be.

I wish it to be understood that while I have chosen to illustrate a gate valve as the mechanism being operated, the. basic thought involved extends beyond this particular application of my idea, and resides, as before set forth, in storing up a considerable volume of power, suddenly developed, and thereafter distributing that power more slowly and advantageously from said storage medium, and if desired, over a much longer path than that traversed by the motor in storing up said power. Consequently, it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted to any particular mechanism, but that it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention,-what I claim is:

1, A mechanism of the character described comprising a two part spring housing, a spring, the two ends of which are connected, respectively, to the two parts of. said housing, means for turning one part of said housing to place said spring under tension, a yoke, a wrist pin carried by the other part of said housing, a cross head slidably engaged with the yoke and engaged by said wrist pin, a longitudinally movable driven element, and gearing between said yoke and the driven element for converting straight line movement of the yoke into compounded straight line movement of said driven element.

2. A structure as recited in claim 1 wherein said gearing comprises racks carried by said yoke, relatively small pinions engaged with the racks of the yoke, larger gear wheels movable with said pinions, and rack teeth upon the longitudinally movable driven element with which the teeth and the gear wheels engage.

3. A structure as recited in claim 1 in combination with a dashpot for controlling the rate of speed of the said longitudinally movable driven element.

4. The combination with an actuated part carrying a rack upon one of its faces, of a gear wheel meshing with said rack, a shaft upon which said gear wheel is mounted, a pinion upon said shaft, a longitudinally movable yoke carrying a rack with which said pinion meshes, a cross head slidably engaged with said yoke, a wrist-pin engaged with said cross head, a two part spring housing, a spring, the two ends of which are connected, respectively, to the two parts of said housing, means for imparting turning movement to one part of said housing to wind the spring, said wrist pin being carried by the other part of said housing, means for holding the first named part of the housing against reverse motion and for holding the second named part of the housing against forward motion, and means operative under the movement of the first named part of the housing for releasing the holding means of the second named part of the housing.

5. The combination with a stem and having rack teeth formed on its opposite faces, of opposed gear wheels having teeth meshing with the teeth of said racks, shafts upon which said gear wheels are mounted, pinions upon said shafts, a yoke disposed between said pinions and having racks upon its opposite edges with which the teeth of said pinions mesh, a cross head mounted for transverse sliding movement in said yoke, a wrist pin engaged with said cross head, a two part spring housing, a spring within said housing, the two ends of. which are connected, respectively, to the two parts of said housing, means for imparting turning movement to'one part of said housing to wind the spring, said wrist pin being carried by the other part of the housing, means for holding the first named part of the housing againstreverse motion and for holding the second named part of the housing against forward motion, and means operative under the movement of the first named part of the housing for releasing the holding means of the second named part of the housing.

6. A power transmitting element of the character described comprising a two-part spring housing, a spring, the two ends of which are connected respectively, to the two parts of said housing, means for turning one part of said housing, a driven part to which the other part of said housing is connected, means for holding the first named half. of the spring housing against reverse movement, means for holding the last named half of the housing against forward movement, and means operable under the movement of the first named half acting to release the holding means of the second named half.

ROSCOE A. COFFMAN. 

